# How did they humidify cigars in the "olden" days?



## boomerd35 (Apr 24, 2007)

Somebody's signature line that was a quote from Mark Twain got me to thinking. And I'm sure if I did even a little research, I'd probably find an answer. But I'm lazy, so I'll just ask if anybody here knows- how did they used to keep cigars moist and fresh? Or did they worry about it? I realize that it's only recent generations that are able to afford to stash away large amounts of cigars in a controlled climate. Maybe back then, since they couldn't afford to have many cigars at one time, they only had one box at any given time and didn't worry about things like humidification.

Any thoughts??


----------



## Rusty Shackleford (May 14, 2008)

I'm not sure about this, but I think that back then people didn't really value or smoke premium cigars the way they do now. I know they had Upmanns and a few other brands, but I just don't think that people gave much thought to holding on to them for any period of time. Most of the cigars smoked then would be smoked the way people that smoke cheap cigars smoke their cigars. It was more of a daily habit, rather than pleasure smoking. And also I think most cigars were sold on the local level only, just read the history of most big name manufacturers.


----------



## FpDoc77 (Nov 30, 2005)

It depends on what era and what part of the world you are discussing. Many cuban people don't believe in aging cigars. The smoke them fairly fresh. Many tropical parts of the world have have natural humidity. To keep cigars you can really dip into the 50% humidity range. I know of a well known collector who keeps his extensive collection at 55% humidity. Also, I think ceremic jars were used to lock in cigar humidity. I will say though that many of the vintage cigars you can get on the market (+30 yrs) were not kept at optimal conditions.


----------



## Architeuthis (Mar 31, 2007)

boomerd35 said:


> Somebody's signature line that was a quote from Mark Twain got me to thinking. And I'm sure if I did even a little research, I'd probably find an answer. But I'm lazy, so I'll just ask if anybody here knows- how did they used to keep cigars moist and fresh? Or did they worry about it? I realize that it's only recent generations that are able to afford to stash away large amounts of cigars in a controlled climate. Maybe back then, since they couldn't afford to have many cigars at one time, they only had one box at any given time and didn't worry about things like humidification.
> 
> Any thoughts??


The British first started storing cigars with the idea of "aging" in mind... Squid still sticks closer to the original idea of 70 degrees and 55% humidity for daily smoking... 60 degrees and 60% humidity for any long term storage. Tell me how many Victorian Era gentlemen were so disgusted with a cigar that they actually ground it out! <G>


----------



## Architeuthis (Mar 31, 2007)

architeuthis said:


> The British first started storing cigars with the idea of "aging" in mind... Squid still sticks closer to the original idea of 70 degrees and 55% humidity for daily smoking... 60 degrees and 60% humidity for any long term storage. Tell me how many Victorian Era gentlemen were so disgusted with a cigar that they actually ground it out! <G>


Squid is *always* correct... And I've *always* been correct!!! Change a few words if y'all like, but Squid Rulez!!!


----------



## boomerd35 (Apr 24, 2007)

architeuthis said:


> Squid is *always* correct... And I've *always* been correct!!! Change a few words if y'all like, but Squid Rulez!!!


Well, when I said "olden" days in the thread title, I definitely had you in mind, squid, hehe. Who better to ask about yesteryear than the guy who was there.


----------



## Architeuthis (Mar 31, 2007)

boomerd35 said:


> Well, when I said "olden" days in the thread title, I definitely had you in mind, squid, hehe. Who better to ask about yesteryear than the guy who was there.


Thanks Troy,,, I shall remember the insult and reply accordingly when next we meet... <G>


----------



## Architeuthis (Mar 31, 2007)

But truly, a British Aristocrat with five to ten thousand cigars in storage actually would keep them around 55%... They thought that to keep them more humid was to keep them "wet" which was unattractice to all but the poorer class of people. Hey, Squid wasn't actually THERE!!! I'm just relating the truth as I know it through history!!!!! <G>


----------



## Phantom57-cl (Feb 15, 2008)

Rusty Shackleford said:


> I'm not sure about this, but I think that back then people didn't really value or smoke premium cigars the way they do now. I know they had Upmanns and a few other brands, but I just don't think that people gave much thought to holding on to them for any period of time. Most of the cigars smoked then would be smoked the way people that smoke cheap cigars smoke their cigars. It was more of a daily habit, rather than pleasure smoking. And also I think most cigars were sold on the local level only, just read the history of most big name manufacturers.


Back in the day, many of the even cheap cigars contained Cuban tobacco, either in part or in total. I therefore expect the demand for an expensive hand rolled Cuban was greatly diminished. Before the embargo, the U.S. imported huge quantities of "scrap" Cuban tobacco for use in machine made cigars. My grandfather, who died at age 84, smoked a box and a half of cigars per week his entire adult life. He bought them one box at a time from the local tobacco shop, who kept a plentiful supply of "his" cigars. Regular cigar smokers depended on the local shops to perform the storage function for them, so most smokers had no need to set up any elaborate storage system. The shop did it for them.


----------



## boomerd35 (Apr 24, 2007)

Phantom57 said:


> Back in the day, many of the even cheap cigars contained Cuban tobacco, either in part or in total. I therefore expect the demand for an expensive hand rolled Cuban was greatly diminished. Before the embargo, the U.S. imported huge quantities of "scrap" Cuban tobacco for use in machine made cigars. My grandfather, who died at age 84, smoked a box and a half of cigars per week his entire adult life. He bought them one box at a time from the local tobacco shop, who kept a plentiful supply of "his" cigars. Regular cigar smokers depended on the local shops to perform the storage function for them, so most smokers had no need to set up any elaborate storage system. The shop did it for them.


That's kinda what I was thinkin when I said they probably only kept a box at a time in their home. Their B&M was the local store just down the street. Now cigar is a four letter word and B&M's are almost to the point of being banned to the outskirts of city limits with adult book stores, landfills, and truck stops.


----------



## CHRIS7891011 (Apr 1, 2007)

boomerd35 said:


> Now cigar is a four letter word and B&M's are almost to the point of being banned to the outskirts of city limits with adult book stores, landfills, and truck stops.


Well put.

I love the knowledge on this site.

BTW good to have a back Squidy!


----------



## tobacmon (May 17, 2007)

architeuthis said:


> But truly, a British Aristocrat with five to ten thousand cigars in storage actually would keep them around 55%... They thought that to keep them more humid was to keep them "wet" which was unattractice to all but the poorer class of people. Hey, Squid wasn't actually THERE!!! I'm just relating the truth as I know it through history!!!!! <G>


Tim I have always wonder how they were stored and where? This I think would help me in my exploration of fine tuning my storage locker--please reply!

Respectfully yours--HaH!


----------



## Rog-cl (Sep 2, 2007)

The tradition in Britain was to dry cigars in the "olden" days. In fact, freshly imported havanan cigars went straight into drying rooms that were around 50% or less.

How things change...


----------



## shaffer22-cl (Jun 1, 2008)

I'm pretty sure that some other ways people used for humidity were apple cores as well as damp sponges. 

Jason


----------



## boomerd35 (Apr 24, 2007)

Hmm, apple core? That's interesting. I never would have thought of that.


----------



## tekhnu (Jun 10, 2007)

The use of different types of porous stone was one method. I was reading that in the US there were tens of thousands of B&Ms in the old days to the point of being almost on every corner like Starbucks is today. If I had that option today there would be no need for me to store cigars at home the way that I no longer make coffee.


----------



## Rah55 (Feb 13, 2008)

boomerd35 said:


> That's kinda what I was thinkin when I said they probably only kept a box at a time in their home. Their B&M was the local store just down the street. Now cigar is a four letter word and B&M's are almost to the point of being banned to the outskirts of city limits with adult book stores, landfills, and truck stops.


Hey watch that stuff. I live near a landfill!!! Of course if they want to move a B&M out here.....Anyways it makes sense that the store would act as a local humidor. Even today in Europe people go to shops much more frequently than in the U.S. They want fresh and the U.S. is the only country that keeps so many things in our own refrigerators. That is not common in Europe whre they buy groceries daily. It was a nice way for the electric companies in the U.S. to sell electricity. Just think of all those General Electric refrigerators humming away.

:frown:


----------



## Brazilla-cl (Feb 20, 2008)

shaffer22 said:


> I'm pretty sure that some other ways people used for humidity were apple cores as well as damp sponges.
> 
> Jason


Hmmmm sounds like a child of the 60s there.


----------



## boomerd35 (Apr 24, 2007)

Rah55 said:


> Hey watch that stuff. I live near a landfill!!!


Whoops, sorry! Haha. We used to live across the street from a landfill when we first got married. Then 10 years later they made it into a golf course. The course wasn't bad, but I tell ya- I was real scared of the water hazards. :arghhhh:


----------



## 6clicks (May 1, 2008)

When I was a youngster I remember my grandpa using half an apple in his small cabinet humidor.


----------



## nativetexan_1 (Jan 1, 2008)

I'm not sure cigars were artificially humidified in the "olden days". If you will watch the RH on the weather reports, you will find that in many areas, especially in the south and along the coasts, the RH outside is much higher than in the house. We have caused this fluctuation by using central heat/air - our houses are mostly very dry. Perhaps in most areas where cigars were popular, they were naturally humidified at 50%-70%. And, it wouldn't surprise me if others (like in Denver) just smoked dry cigars.

While we're here, when was the humidore, with humidifiers, invented?


----------



## Rah55 (Feb 13, 2008)

OK here's one account>> link:http://www.en.cigarclan.com/articles/2004/1/04/

The humidor 
The man, who thought it up: Zino Davidoff 
The year of his discovery: mid 20th century

The humidor was invented in the mid 20th century - which is comparatively recently, when compared with the many centuries that the cigar itself has existed. So how did people manage to do without this - to our modern-day view - essential accessory?

The answer, it appears, is very simple.

The humid tropical climate of Central America - the home of the cigar - is ideally suited to the storing of tobacco: not too dry, not too moist. Although the European climate differs widely from the tropical climate, it can still provide the necessary conditions for a cigar's 'survival'. In particular, summer in the flat regions of Europe is humid and warm, and that is an environment conducive to keeping a cigar at its best. But in winter, it is much harder for a cigar to retain its original qualities: tobacco deteriorates rapidly, when it's cold.

In the olden days, when they tended to keep open fires, cigars were kept in specially unheated rooms, where there were optimal conditions of humidity and temperature. Stone walls, strong oak doors and wooden panelling on the inside walls of the basement rooms of European h*ouses and castles provided ideal conditions for storing cigars. This sort of room acted like a huge humidor, where cigars could be wrapped in warm material and kept for as long as was required.

And had not central heating - which, unlike the open hearth, could maintain equality of temperature and humidity throughout a building - been widely introduced by the middle of the 20th century, no one would have given a thought to inventing a special container for cigars. As Europe got warmer, it literally dried up, and this overall 'drought' had an imme*diate effect on the quality of the cigars sold in Europe. Now it is hard to believe, but at the time practically all the cigars, left on the shelves of the European shops for only a few days, began to deteriorate and could no longer provide smokers with the pleasure they expected.

The first person to turn his attention to this serious problem was Zino Davidoff, who had just returned from Cuba. For a man, who had learned all the subtleties of the cigar business, the difference in quality between one and the same cigar in its native land and in Europe was obvious. And it was this man, who loved quality tobacco and good cigars, that thought up the idea for making a special container, which would maintain optimal conditions of humidity for a cigar irrespective of the microclimate of the place in which it was stored.

The first humidors were ordinary cupboards, in which a vessel contai*ning water was placed or a small wooden box with a piece of moist fabric on the bottom. The quality of the cigars that Davidoff stored in these early humidors was noticeably different from the qua*lity of those that were sold in European tobacconists at the time. Finally convinced of the benefits of his invention, Davidoff decided to use it in the battle with his competitors by insisting that all shops that sold Davidoff cigars should store cigars in the new container. In the event of refusal, he threatened to stop supplying his products.

But despite the fact that the benefits of the humidor were evident, the novelty was not accepted everywhere. For example, the first major serial production of Davidoff cigar humidors was not begun by the subsidiary company, Monti, until 1968! And in France and Spain it was only a mere 15-20 years ago that humidors became widely used. Like every great innovation, the real importance of the humidor was only recognized many years after its invention.

by ELDAR TUZMUKHAMEDOV


----------



## Rah55 (Feb 13, 2008)

This link seems to agree: http://edu.udym.com/cigar-humidors-a-brief-history/

A number of historians consider Zino Davidoff to be the first person to have built a 'cellar humidor' for preserving his cigars. Davidoff's family dealt in cigars and as a result he soon found it necessary to preserve their taste by building a structure that would help keep the smokes in an ideal temperature. What resulted out of this necessity was a cigar 'cellar', said to have been built in early 20th century. Thankfully, today we do not need such a 'cellar' for storing our cigars, instead we can simply choose a far more portable and easy to use- cigar humidor.


----------



## AbeScromsbie-cl (Jul 17, 2007)

While not exactly relevant to this thread, I thought the following anecdotes about U.S. Grant were interesting. It appears the calming influence of cigars applies to the battlefield as well.

* In the heat of battle, when his staff officers were full of anxiety, Grant calmly smoked his cigar and never lost his composure. His nerves of steel were a wonder to all around him. He could write dispatches while shells burst around him and never flinch.

Perhaps this was the first cigar 'bomb'? 

* Before the Battle of Fort Donelson, Grant was a light smoker. During the battle a reporter spotted him holding an unlit cigar given him by Admiral Foote, and soon ten thousand cigars were sent to him in camp. Although giving away as many as he could, he started the habit of cigar smoking that became one of his trademarks.


----------



## Rah55 (Feb 13, 2008)

Geez...so the war made him a cigar smoker and president too! May be the only one who made out that well.


----------



## MMarsden (Nov 29, 2007)

Rah55 said:


> Thankfully, today we do not need such a 'cellar' for storing our cigars, instead we can simply choose a far more portable and easy to use- cigar humidor.


Sure we don't _need_ a cellar for storing our cigars, but don't we all want one?


----------



## dravensghost (Sep 21, 2007)

this was a really good article 
thanks for posting everyone i just learned a lot


----------



## nativetexan_1 (Jan 1, 2008)

Sorry, but many antique humidors exist from the late 19th through the early 20th century. In fact, a US patent was issued in 1920, after being filed in 1916.


----------



## baba (Nov 5, 2007)

In Eourpe cigars were often "dry cured" and not humidified. It is possible that in the early days before glycerin was add to cigars to keep them soft, that dry curing was all they had. 
I'll have to google this - interesting question.


----------

